Economic Mobility

How Equitable Infrastructure Investments Benefit Everyone
A call for the country to focus its infrastructure investments to the most vulnerable and neglected populations—and watch the benefits compound.

Study: Land Use Regulation Slows Economic Growth
Pro-development advocates have a new study to back up their cause.
Is a Meritocracy Really What We Want?
At first glance, a meritocratic vision is morally compelling, but upon closer scrutiny, its pursuit ends up legitimizing—and thus reinforcing—the very social and economic inequality it purports to rectify.

Should Governments Subsidize Uber and Lyft Connections to Transit?
According to a new report from the Center for American Progress, technology network companies like Uber and Lyft offer a unique opportunity for low-income users to connect with transit routes and on to greater economic opportunities.
On the Suburban South's Troubling Poverty
Land use and transportation planning decisions provide a framework on which other social policies have created particularly isolating and intractable poverty in the South.
Moving Forward in Ferguson with Better Transit
The Ferguson Commission report includes recommendations for combating racial inequity in the Saint Louis region with better-funded, more expansive transit access.

The Key to Escaping Poverty: Transportation
A recent study that connected place to opportunity also includes findings about the factor most likely to influence economic success: access to transportation.
Study Finds New Evidence that Place Determines Income Mobility
A new study by Harvard economists provides the best evidence yet that where children grow up matters to the outcomes of their lives.

More Evidence of the 'Neighborhood Effect'
Two recent studies find evidence of a powerful "neighborhood effect" for economic mobility—especially on the incomes of blue collar and service workers as compared to knowledge and creative workers.
Study Compares Job Access by Transit in 46 U.S. Metropolitan Areas
The Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota has released the Access Across America: Transit 2014 report.
Social Mobility in America: Reality or Dream?
Richard Reeves explains the factors that limit or assist social mobility for people born into the lowest economic quintile in American society.
Explaining the Connections between Physical Mobility and Economic Mobility
A new post by Danielle Kurtzleben explains the complicated mix of infrastructure considerations that must be in place for transportation to benefit economic mobility.

Arguing for Cars, Not Transit, as a Poverty Solution
Data show that cars are more effective than transit in providing poor people to jobs and economic opportunity. But does that mean transit systems are fundamentally inadequate or just currently inadequate?
New Study Changes the Narrative on Slums
Researchers are building a more complete archive of life in slums, home to one-third of the urban population of developing countries. A new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) rejects assumptions about the benefits of slums.
Why New York's Inequality Is a Good Thing
Though he may not find a lot of agreement among the 750,000 residents who voted for Bill de Blasio, Ed Glaeser argues that New York City's extreme inequality is a sign of its economic diversity and success, and is nothing to be ashamed about.
Size of A City's Middle Class Predicts Poor's Economic Mobility
Researchers find that among the largest 100 metro regions in the U.S. , those with a larger middle class, provide higher economic mobility.
Class is (Most Likely) Destiny in the United States
Richard Florida reports on why America ranks second to last among first world nations for economic mobility; the Northeast remains the most mobile region of the country.
Pagination
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
Smith Gee Studio
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service